CD: The Age of Miracles by Mary Chapin Carpenter (Tracks 4-6)
What am I doing? The introduction’s here.
Track 4: Holding Up The Sky
Once again, we’re longing for air. It’s a great way to explain this idea of wanting to fly instead of “being down here/Holding up the sky.” For a long-time fan like me, it’s also great that she references previous works that help shade the meaning to this song. The previous knowledge is not necessary, but it certainly makes me feel more clued in.
No Fear is one of my all time favorite Mary Chapin Carpenter songs that unfortunately was not done justice (in my opinion) when recorded by Terri Clark. Ugh, I just hit the play button on that song link, and the flat vowel sounds and jagged edges of the vocal performance just made me cringe all over again. There’s a weird lack of muscle and vigor in this recording.
I’ve heard MCC do this song and her round tones and smooth power really make huge differences on this song. Oh, how I wish she would record it too. There is absolutely no need to waste lyrics like
I want a road stretching out before me
I want the radio in my ear
I want a full tank of absolution
No fear
A full tank of absolution?! Come on! That line made me fall out of my chair and weep the first time I heard it.
In the context of this song, she writes:
I want to feel what the wind feels like
I want to go that high
And feel no fear instead of being down here
Holding up the sky
Between Here and Gone is a song off of Mary Chapin Carpenter‘s album of the same name. It’s a post-September 11 work so I think the “here and gone” becomes pretty obvious in that context.
And this song reinforces the dual-layer imagery by having the first-person narrator repeat “I found myself between two…” throughout. First, it’s places. Then it’s choices. And finally lifetimes.
I found myself between two lifetimes
A sunset and a dawn
I reached out and took the lifeline
Offered up between here and gone
Track 5: 4 June 1989
MCC wrote this after reading about Chen Guang in the NY Times. Many times, there is at least one song on each album that brings tears on almost every hearing, and this time, track 4 is my crying song. The Tiananmen Square experience of this person is just heartbreaking, and MCC has created such a haunting version of it.
There’s a dreamy, floating quality to the music that makes it a remembrance with just the right amounts of pathos, wistfulness, and hope. In the chorus, she creates a fine effect by breaking up the lush lyricism with the harsh, short syllables of “In the dirty stinking river.” It really puts the anger through.
Another thing that I absolutely love here is the evolution of an idea through the progression of the song. The first time the chorus goes by, it ends with
In the messages that find you then vanish in the ether
They vanish in the ether…
Wow, depressing.
But, the second time through, the boy soldier says
In the messages that found me, then vanished in the ether
In the messages that found me…
Ah, the students did make an impact. And their ideas were not confined within the borders of that square.
And finally,
In the messages that find us, then vanish in the ether
Oh the messages will find us, then vanish in the ether
Mary Chapin Carpenter has written an ode honoring failed revolutions. Eventually, movements succeed and the ones who are carrying the banner at that time are celebrated. But before that happens, there are attempts that fail and fail and fail. And the people who tried during those times are rarely remembered.
With that final line, however, MCC reminds us that messages do not die. They come and may move away, but if it reaches someone new, then the voices will surely be raised again.
Track 6: I Was A Bird
Yes, back to the ground/sky dichotomy. It’s a lovely song with a simpler presentation. Alison Krauss lends her angelic voice to it.
It may seem like this theme is overly explored on this album, but in my opinion, it really doesn’t come off that way. The songs and the way they are presented vary enough so that the motif is obvious but not repetitive.
Other posts in this series
[...] 7: Mrs. HemingwayLike 4 June 1989, this is a first-person narrator song. The inspiration this time is Hadley Hemingway, the first [...]
[...] there are people still trying out there. You just never know when that message in the ether is going to flare up and [...]